Archive for the 'Wolf Parade' Tag Under 'Soundcheck' Category

Divine Fits' Britt Daniel, also of Spoon, at the Fonda Theatre. Photo: David Hall, for the Register

Just before heading into Hollywood's Fonda Theatre Sunday evening for a particularly rousing opening set from Cold Cave – more powerful than before, with a full backing band supplementing frontman Wesley Eisold's already gripping, emotionally charged vocals – I overheard a brief exchange between the box office attendant and Wolf Parade's Dan Boeckner, also vocalist and core member of this gig's headlining act, Divine Fits.

“Sh*t got a little crazy on this tour,” he said. “Some good ... some bad.”

As an avid appreciator of the outfit's studio debut from August, A Thing Called Divine Fits, I sincerely hope that cryptic admittance doesn't signal a swift end to this outstanding new supergroup, also featuring vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Britt Daniel of Spoon, drummer Sam Brown of New Bomb Turks and keyboardist Alex Fischel.

The 11-track album features strong shades of both Daniel's and Boeckner's principal projects (though Wolf Parade is on indefinite hiatus) albeit with an audibly '80s, synth-heavy vibe. From start to finish, the musicians maintain a distinct air of nervous energy (think David Byrne and Ian Curtis) so prominent in their past works.

But before I split, here are some standout moments from Saturday at the 10th annual Sasquatch! Music Festival at the Gorge Amphitheater in George, Wash.:

• Local Natives: Leading with the infectiously catchy "Camera Talk" and the anthemic "World News" -- the latter causing a giant spontaneous dance party that overtook the Gorge's entire top tier above the main stage -- the rising L.A.-based indie rockers proved their worth yet again.

It's unlikely that anything the Natives do in the near-future will measure up to their spellbinding performance with a full orchestra at Walt Disney Concert Hall in February, but this set was a whopper just the same -- "by the far the biggest show" so far, according to multi-instrumentalist Kelcey Ayer. A rousing performance of "Sun Hands" -- preceded by an announcement by frontman Taylor Rice that this would be the final gig before the band heads home to record a new record -- imbibed the audience with a zap of energy. Quite rare for a mid-afternoon set.

• Wye Oak: One of the festival's few newcomers (this 10th anniversary was packed full of veterans in spirit of celebration), the Maryland-based duo of guitarist/chanteuse Jenn Wasner and drummer/keyboardist Andy Stack easily attracted a sizable following on the more intimate Yeti Stage for an early-evening set. The band is three albums into its career (the hard-hitting Civilian arrived earlier this year), and each song -- the loud-quiet-loud gems "Holy Holy," "That I Do" and "For Prayer," among them -- resonated with a galvanic beauty perfectly suited for this venue's nearly surreal atmosphere.

This year, the punkapalooza-and-more is doing things in reverse order: instead of kicking off at the Pomona Fairplex and then circling back to Home Depot Center in Carson, this time the festival will launch at HDC on June 25 (with a June 27 replay at Seaside Park in Ventura) and then return to Pomona's fairgrounds on Aug. 11.

They may not be coming back for a third season of their hilarious and acclaimed HBO series, but Flight of the Conchords isn't ceasing to exist, either. Indeed, the Grammy-winning New Zealand duo of Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement have live dates throughout spring -- including a just-announced May 30 stop at the Hollywood Bowl, quite possibly the biggest comedy event at the landmark venue since Monty Python performed there in 1980. Tickets, $27.50-$57.50, are on sale Saturday at noon.